My decision to write an account of what happened this weekend is not to answer to the detractors of myself or my team, as no explanation is owed them. It is instead based on my acknowledgement and respect to our fans and supporters. I never thought I would be answering for something that happened at a grappling tournament, however with the worldwide popularity of the sport and my team increasing, I understand that our supporters need answers. Below is a compilation of events in chronological order. I included the behind the scenes problems we had to let you, our supporters, know how things deteriorated.

Facts

In the month of February I was contacted by a Brazilian named Junior asking me if I wanted to participate in an Expo\Jiu-jitsu tournament. The goal was to put one of our team’s stars in the event to attract sponsors and ensure it was successful. The event was not that far away and they desperately needed exposure. Junior stated that he was working with my uncle Rilion and my cousin Renzo on this project and they were in fact partners. Rilion and Renzo are 2 people that I greatly admire and respect and I was more than happy to partner up with them.

I discussed the idea with Nick Diaz and he readily agreed to enter in the black belt gi division. He did not seek any reimbursement. Junior thought it better for Nick to do a super fight as he thought this would be more of a spectacle and bring in more attention. Nick was not as enthusiastic but agreed on the condition that whoever was picked to go against him was not an mma fighter. He knew even a mediocre mma fighter would try to use a match and/or victory over him to further their career in mma. Nick believes a reputation as a fighter should only be earned in a ring or cage.I relayed this to Junior and he agreed to arrange for a strict jiu-jitsu competitor.

In March I received the disturbing news from Rilion that Junior had broken his agreement with him. Rilion stated to me that Junior was registering all World Jiu-jitsu Expo names under his name alone and was no longer taking his phone calls. When contacted by me, Junior stated that he would no longer honor his financial obligations to Rilion because “Rilion was doing nothing and treats me like one of his clerks”.He then went on a tirade about Rilion which I interrupted and reminded him that Rilion was my family member and I would not listen to someone speaking negatively about him.

This rift left me in a dilemma. My instinct was to sever ties immediately. Rilion was my original jiu-jitsu instructor and his reputation as an honest person was impeccable. On the other hand we had already committed Diaz and Caio Terra. Our removal would destroy an event Renzo provided all of the funding for.

I consulted with Rilion who advised me to move forward with the event. He was the one that had brought Renzo into this project and convinced Renzo to fund it. He also still believed in the idea of an American tournament that paid the best BJJ guys on the planet to showcase their skills. We agreed to move forward without him since at this stage Junior had entrenched himself and his removal was impossible. Lastly Rilion warned me that Junior was not to be trusted and would undoubtedly try to cheat me and Renzo.

In early April I got the call from Junior asking what I thought of a Braulio Estima vs Nick Diaz matchup. I had heard of Braulio and knew he was a formidable jiu-jitsu practitioner. I was under the impression that Braulio competed in the close to 200lbs weight category.When I asked Junior he assured me that Braulio could weigh in as little as 175 lbs right before the match.

I presented his information to Nick who accepted the matchup and seemed happy to go against the top BJJ player in the world at that weight. Nick started training for the match and I brought up several BJJ black belts to compliment his training.

Looking through some of Estima’s youtube videos, it was soon discovered that he had in fact been planning on entering upon a career in mma. We wondered if the match with Diaz was a way to create a buzz around him and get him signed with a prominent organization.

I called Junior who assured me Estima would not be fighting in mma and that he had spoken with him and been assured he had given up on the idea of ever fighting. Junior reiterated, “Cesar I spoke with Braulio, the guy is in his 30's, he has a family and doesn’t want to live that type of life at this stage in his life…etc”

I repeated this info to Nick. A week or so later it was all over the Internet that Braulio had joined the “Blackzillians” and was training for an mma fight. We had been lied to. Furthermore it was evident that Nick’s sole condition that he not go against a wanna be mma guy was violated and this was in fact an attempt by Braulio to ignite an mma career.Nick was to have been accurately portrayed as a fighter returning to his BJJ roots. He had even agreed to give his entire purse to charity; St Jude’s Children’s Hospital for kids with cancer. If you know the story of Ralph Gracie’s son you would understand why this charity was chosen. Nick’s name having been added to this event had saved it but now it was clear he was to be the patsy, not respected but used.

Despite all of this Nick was still going to compete. He brought up Kron Gracie and prepared himself. Around this time I was informed by Junior that Braulio wanted to weigh in the day before and not right before the match as is the custom in IBJJ competitions and Abu Dhabi. At the time Nick was about 186lbs so I consented to both guys weighing in at 180lbs the night before.

Nick boarded a plane on Friday for Long Beach having cut 6 pounds for the weigh in that night. On his way there I got a call from Junior telling me Braulio would not be making weight! ”Cesar Braulio is complaining about the weight cut. Can we have him weigh in tomorrow? He can’t make the weight tonight how about 185 in the morning?”

Nick arrives in Long Beach to the news that there will be no weigh ins that night. As a professional with over 30 fights this was the final straw. The disrespect and total lack of professionalism given him convinced him he was at a circus not a professional event.

At 3:20 in the morning I received a text from Junior that Braulio would in fact make the 180lbs weight class at 10:00AM. With no other option available I said fine I’ll check with Nick in the morning. At 10:00AM Braulio did weigh in at 180lbs but by that time Nick had already left.

OpinionAs a Brazilian I love Brazil but not all things Brazilian. In the last decade I have witnessed Brazilian cronies running the IBJJF and making it impossible for Americans to get a fair shake when competing against their Brazilian countrymen. These cronies have instituted rules to where if you miss weight by even half a pound you are disqualified and not refunded your entry fee. They gladly keep your money and treat you like crap in your country because they can. One of these cronies (Junior) decided to bend all the rules for Braulio Estima and treat Nick Diaz like crap. Sorry that didn’t work out here.

As for Braulio I still respect him as a great BJJ artist. As far as calling Nick out for a mma fight, he knows that is impossible because Nick is signed with the UFC and in mma you have to make weight when they want you to. Not when you want to. If Braulio ever finds success in mma then he can mention Nick’s name for a fight. Right now he should respect the man.

Nick is not without fault by any means. His lack of communication with his team and coach was inexcusable. This will be addressed privately.

Renzo and I have spoken and we are committed to continuing with this otherwise awesome event….without the services of Junior.

It should be noted that Nick paid to St Jude’s Children’s Hospitable the sum of what would have been his entire purse.

I figured he would pay the money and that’s good. Do they not get that Nick has such a bad image right now and should have done anything but bail? It’s like that kid doesn't have the ability a proper decision. I love watching Nick Diaz fight I have been a fan since he wasted Robbie Lawler all those years ago. But his ability to make himself and everyone around him look bad is almost unmatched and very disappointing.

I don't buy everything Caesar says here, but I would not be at all surprised that Nick and Caesar were lied to about one thing or another. It sucks that he bailed on the event, but if you're being jerked around, it's probably your best option to fight back (no pun intended).

In the end he made a donation to St. Jude's and that's good, because screwing the charity was the worst part of the whole thing to me. Taking off without telling anyone and basically leaving the show for dead coupled with screwing over the people that paid to see him is still highly douchey though. There was still a commitment made and plenty of time to get out rather than bailing the day of the match even if there were some shady circumstances surrounding the event.

Last edited 5/15/12 11:56AM server time by cowcatcherEdit note/reason: n/a

Based on what Cesar said, I have no problem with him pulling out. He donated the money he would have donated anyway.

But if he wanted to cancel, he should have announced it. Those are the people that got screwed here. The people that paid 10 bucks and went to some obscure site to watch the most rinky-dink commentators in the history of commentary butcher some BJJ matches, only to find out that the person they had spent $10 and an hour and a half of their saturday night was a no-show.

That's the problem with what Diaz did. It isn't the kids, he donated the money, even though it came out of his own pocket. Considering no one else donated anything, I don't see how someone can hold him at fault. And who cares about the company. Even if only half of what Cesar says is true, it sounds like that company reaps what it sows. But he shit on the people that like him. And he did it without even thinking about them.

Based on what Cesar said, I have no problem with him pulling out. He donated the money he would have donated anyway.

But if he wanted to cancel, he should have announced it. Those are the people that got screwed here. The people that paid 10 bucks and went to some obscure site to watch the most rinky-dink commentators in the history of commentary butcher some BJJ matches, only to find out that the person they had spent $10 and an hour and a half of their saturday night was a no-show.

That's the problem with what Diaz did. It isn't the kids, he donated the money, even though it came out of his own pocket. Considering no one else donated anything, I don't see how someone can hold him at fault. And who cares about the company. Even if only half of what Cesar says is true, it sounds like that company reaps what it sows. But he shit on the people that like him. And he did it without even thinking about them.

I feel better about the situation at hand but my opinion on Nick hasn't changed and probably never will unless he saves mankind from the Zombie Apocalypse

Based on what Cesar said, I have no problem with him pulling out. He donated the money he would have donated anyway.

But if he wanted to cancel, he should have announced it. Those are the people that got screwed here. The people that paid 10 bucks and went to some obscure site to watch the most rinky-dink commentators in the history of commentary butcher some BJJ matches, only to find out that the person they had spent $10 and an hour and a half of their saturday night was a no-show.

That's the problem with what Diaz did. It isn't the kids, he donated the money, even though it came out of his own pocket. Considering no one else donated anything, I don't see how someone can hold him at fault. And who cares about the company. Even if only half of what Cesar says is true, it sounds like that company reaps what it sows. But he shit on the people that like him. And he did it without even thinking about them.

Cesar is just a flat out liar and I'm getting tired of listening to him lie his damn ass off every time Nick decides to be Nick.

I'm seeing a number of tweets this morning from people in the jiu-jitsu world complain about Diaz. Their complaints are legit, though. Nick does this all the time, apparently. People have paid top dollar to attend seminars with him and he's no-showed them. This includes the week before this event

@bigragu102 @BJJJunebug13 Nick needs to stop this nonscence..he no showed a seminar in nj the week before where like 50 people pre paid<:(

It's time to stop buying Cesar's finger-pointing bullshit. You all can continue to listen to Cesar's plausible explanations if you want. I am done listening to them. Without fail, Cesar offers up an explanation like this every single time. It's usually an entire indictment of how everyone else was in the wrong and their contributions to Nick just saying "fuck it." While Cesar always says "we will address this issue privately" when talking about Nick's fuck-ups, nothing is ever addressed privately because this stuff continues to happen with Nick.

Furthermore, what are the odds that all of these situations, as Cesar always explains them, are the fault of all these other people? It's ALWAYS someone else. Nick ALWAYS "overreacted."

That is the same continuous bullshit that Cesar provides and I'm done with it. I respect the hell out of Diaz. I'm not a fan of his personality, but I absolutely respect the talents, abilities, and skills of the Diaz brothers. I can officially say that I'm done with their act. I'm done with Cesar, I'm done with these explanations, and I'm done with it being everyone else's fault.

You guys do what you want, but this explanation does nothing and Diaz donating the money, out of pocket, to the charity does nothing for me. What does he expect me to say? "Great job?"

He should fucking donate the money out of pocket. He agreed to be in the event as the main-event. He's not going to get praised by me for doing something he should be doing.